Cam Ward assessment from a lifelong Cane

[Miami718]

Whats going on Titans fans? Not a Titans fan here, but I am a lifelong bleed Orange and Green Miami Hurricane (was dressed in UM gear as a baby, went to undergrad at the U when we fielded the greatest college football team of all time, and am now finishing up my 17th year as a prof @ the U). When it comes to the NFL I grew up a Bucs fan, but mostly I root for whatever NFL team has the most former Canes on it.

 

Anyway, have been enjoying reading this forum for the last month as it became clear you all were going to do the smart thing and take Cam. Wanted to make an account and share my thoughts that as hyped up as you all have gotten yourselves over Cam Ward I can assure you that you guys aren't just drinking the Kool Aid and falling victim to overoptimism bias. Cam is legitimately the real deal in every way as a leader, athlete, and human being. Im going to share a couple brief stories:

 

First is our pursuit of Cam "starting" (lol) when he entered the portal in December 2023. Our HC Mario Cristobal is as intense a dude as you will ever in your life meet and is committed with every fiber in his body to restoring the U back to championship levels and he prioritizes acquiring talent who share the same intensity and commitment. We had the top two transfer QBs from that cycle visit us right off the bat (Cam and a dude I will not name who is now a national champion for some school in Ohio thanks largely to a receiver from Miami who should have stayed home lol). They were both on campus at the same time for part of their visits in fact, and the other QB was ready to commit on the spot. Mario, however, was obsessed with Cam and felt strongly that Cam was a world apart from anything else and was a dog in ways that you only see once in a generation, and Mario decided he was all in on Cam and willing to risk ending up landing no QB while waiting for Cam to work through his decision to go pro or not. And so we waited for over a month for Cam to finally decide to withdraw from the draft and come play for us and our plan to elevate him to 1st round. During that month we watched every viable QB sign with other teams while we sat empty handed. l It is difficult to convey how much coach risked with that approach. I'm sure you can all imagine very few head coaches would ever take that kind of a risk in these days where coaches have very short lifespans, and among the coaches who do have the guts to take such a risk , there's very very few players they'd ever encounter who would be worth it. 

 

Second story is from early summer voluntary workouts right around this time last year as the spring semester had wrapped up. Cam organized the receivers to go run routes and throw/catch with him and one of the receivers wasn't there. So Cam called him up and said where you at man. The receiver said he was actually up in the north side of town running routes and catching with Lamar Jackson. Cam responded that he wasn't going to be catching any passes from Lamar Jackson in the Fall and if he wants to be catching passes for the U come August he better get his ass down to Coral Gables in the next hour. That is a 100% legit no embellishment story and it is the first moment when I saw why coach Cristobal had risked so much to go all in after Cam. 

 

You all truly got a generational dude at the helm now. 

Edited May 11 by Miami718

[scine09]

I think Michael Irvin also shared that Lamar Jackson story.

[heyitsmeallen]

Thanks for sharing. A lot of us were all in on Cam being the pick pretty much as soon as we locked up the #1 pick. It took others longer to come around, but this is the most united i’ve ever seen the board on a QB. He’s got what it takes to be a great QB in the NFL. The things he needs to work on are fixable, and some of the things he is great at are things that can’t be coached. From everything i’ve seen from the guy, I have no doubt he will put in the work required to become a top QB in the NFL. 

[NashvilleNinja]

2 hours ago, Miami718 said:

Whats going on Titans fans? Not a Titans fan here, but I am a lifelong bleed Orange and Green Miami Hurricane (was dressed in UM gear as a baby, went to undergrad at the U when we fielded the greatest college football team of all time, and am now finishing up my 17th year as a prof @ the U). When it comes to the NFL I grew up a Bucs fan, but mostly I root for whatever NFL team has the most former Canes on it.

 

Anyway, have been enjoying reading this forum for the last month as it became clear you all were going to do the smart thing and take Cam. Wanted to make an account and share my thoughts that as hyped up as you all have gotten yourselves over Cam Ward I can assure you that you guys aren't just drinking the Kool Aid and falling victim to overoptimism bias. Cam is legitimately the real deal in every way as a leader, athlete, and human being. Im going to share a couple brief stories:

 

First is our pursuit of Cam "starting" (lol) when he entered the portal in December 2023. Our HC Mario Cristobal is as intense a dude as you will ever in your life meet and is committed with every fiber in his body to restoring the U back to championship levels and he prioritizes acquiring talent who share the same intensity and commitment. We had the top two transfer QBs from that cycle visit us right off the bat (Cam and a dude I will not name who is now a national champion for some school in Ohio thanks largely to a receiver from Miami who should have stayed home lol). They were both on campus at the same time for part of their visits in fact, and the other QB was ready to commit on the spot. Mario, however, was obsessed with Cam and felt strongly that Cam was a world apart from anything else and was a dog in ways that you only see once in a generation, and Mario decided he was all in on Cam and willing to risk ending up landing no QB while waiting for Cam to work through his decision to go pro or not. And so we waited for over a month for Cam to finally decide to withdraw from the draft and come play for us and our plan to elevate him to 1st round. During that month we watched every viable QB sign with other teams while we sat empty handed. l It is difficult to convey how much coach risked with that approach. I'm sure you can all imagine very few head coaches would ever take that kind of a risk in these days where coaches have very short lifespans, and among the coaches who do have the guts to take such a risk , there's very very few players they'd ever encounter who would be worth it. 

 

Second story is from early summer voluntary workouts right around this time last year as the spring semester had wrapped up. Cam organized the receivers to go run routes and throw/catch with him and one of the receivers wasn't there. So Cam called him up and said where you at man. The receiver said he was actually up in the north side of town running routes and catching with Lamar Jackson. Cam responded that he wasn't going to be catching any passes from Lamar Jackson in the Fall and if he wants to be catching passes for the U come August he better get his ass down to Coral Gables in the next hour. That is a 100% legit no embellishment story and it is the first moment when I saw why coach Cristobal had risked so much to go all in after Cam. 

 

You all truly got a generational dude at the helm now. 

 

Ok. Now go do this kind of write-up in the Restrepo thread and shut these retards up about him being nothing but an uphill battle facing practice squad scrub who won't even be able to beat out Oliver Bryce or Van "Morrison" Jefferson for a roster spot.

[ctm]

17 minutes ago, NashvilleNinja said:

 

Ok. Now go do this kind of write-up in the Restrepo thread and shut these retards up about him being nothing but an uphill battle facing practice squad scrub who won't even be able to beat out Oliver Bryce or Van "Morrison" Jefferson for a roster spot.

 

He won't be the primary punt returner.  It's also very unlikely he plays on coverage teams.

 

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/xavier-restrepo-1.html#all_punt_return_standard

Edited May 11 by ctm

[NashvilleNinja]

1 minute ago, ctm said:

 

He won't be the primary punt returner.

 

 

[Titandan]

5 hours ago, Miami718 said:

Second story is from early summer voluntary workouts right around this time last year as the spring semester had wrapped up. Cam organized the receivers to go run routes and throw/catch with him and one of the receivers wasn't there. So Cam called him up and said where you at man. The receiver said he was actually up in the north side of town running routes and catching with Lamar Jackson. Cam responded that he wasn't going to be catching any passes from Lamar Jackson in the Fall and if he wants to be catching passes for the U come August he better get his ass down to Coral Gables in the next hour. That is a 100% legit no embellishment story and it is the first moment when I saw why coach Cristobal had risked so much to go all in after Cam. 

 

You all truly got a generational dude at the helm now. 

 

Thanks for sharing!  Do you know which wide receiver he had to call up?  That type of confidence is a good trait.  

 

Anyway, will you be joining us as Titans fans now? 

[Miami718]

3 hours ago, NashvilleNinja said:

 

Ok. Now go do this kind of write-up in the Restrepo thread and shut these retards up about him being nothing but an uphill battle facing practice squad scrub who won't even be able to beat out Oliver Bryce or Van "Morrison" Jefferson for a roster spot.

I can speak for hours on X's character and internal drive/motivation. His personal story is somewhat similar to Ward's in that he has been underestimated and counted out at almost every step of his football career, including an idiot offensive coordinator for the U who pulled his scholarship offer when he was in HS because he wasn't athletic enough (that OC was fired and new regime instantly re-offered him thankfully). I am not nearly as confident that his intangibles will be enough to propel him in the league as I am confident that Cam is your generational QB, but I will definitely say that people should count him out at their own peril...dude is the all time leading receiver in UM history and the naysayers should check the wikipedia page to see who the dudes ranked 2-10 behind him are....

[prometheus]

Thanks for your post.  I, too, have a history of sorts with The U.  Born in 1942.  Went to nearly every game through HS and college in St. Pete.  Jim Kiick.  Don Bosseler.  So many ! Took some summer classes.  Was a Dolphins fan before the Titans came here.

 

It would be good to get your thoughts on Restrepo.  Also, stick with us during the season if you wish.  If so, make sure to put on your thick skin.

 

pro

[Miami718]

13 minutes ago, Titandan said:

 

Thanks for sharing!  Do you know which wide receiver he had to call up?  That type of confidence is a good trait.  

 

Anyway, will you be joining us as Titans fans now? 

I do but we're not gonna throw the young man under the bus. He got his ass back to coral gables as instructed lol And i'll be rooting for the titans to win a SB as long as QB1's jersey says WARD on the back! Actually am interested in getting a Cam Ward titans t shirt , if anyone has any links to a cool one pls share.

Edited May 11 by Miami718

[NashvilleNinja]

2 minutes ago, Miami718 said:

I am not nearly as confident that his intangibles will be enough to propel him in the league

 

 

The naysayers will hang onto those words like Tommy Lee on Pam Anderson's tits!!!

[Miami718]

1 minute ago, NashvilleNinja said:

 

 

The naysayers will hang onto those words like Tommy Lee on Pam Anderson's tits!!!

Naysayers always will latch onto the only negative thing someone says and ignore that the rest was positive. I have confidence in the young man but don't want to oversell it. I think a good comp for him could be Braxton Berrios, especially if he ends up doing well with PR. 

[bizzyeddie]

when does he make his bed

and can I bounce a quarter on it

[NashvilleNinja]

2 minutes ago, Miami718 said:

Naysayers always will latch onto the only negative thing someone says and ignore that the rest was positive. I have confidence in the young man but don't want to oversell it. I think a good comp for him could be Braxton Berrios, especially if he ends up doing well with PR. 

 

That's ok. This is overselling season. Nothing else going on.

 

Braxton Berrios would be a bit of a disappointment, even though XR was undrafted, considering how much more productive than Berrios XR was.

[TerryBoats]

Miami football fans are solid.  Pro and collegiate.  There were similar informative posts when Tannehill joined the team.  Way better than that shit which came with Mariota.